chapter vii. | jonathan byers cannot shoot
"hey dipshits!"
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CASSIE AND NANCY WALKED TOWARD Jonathan at the place they had agreed to meet at the secluded edge of the woods. Jonathan had set up three beer cans on three tree stumps, trying to shoot them down. Nancy had brought a baseball bat as her form of weapon, her backpack on one shoulder. Cassie had swung Dustin's old lacrosse stick over her shoulders, her backpack secure on one shoulder like Nancy. The girls watched as Jonathan missed one shot after another.
"You are supposed to hit the cans, right?" Cassie asked as the girls approached. Jonathan looked over at them.
"No, actually, you see the spaces between the cans? I'm aiming for those," he replied sarcastically, making Cassie chuckle. Nancy chucked her bat and backpack behind her as she stood next to Jonathan. "You ever shot a gun before?" he asked Nancy.
"Have you met my parents?" Nancy scoffed, making Cassie and Jonathan chuckle.
"Yeah, I haven't shot one since I was ten," said Jonathan, reloading the gun. "My dad took me hunting on my birthday. He made me kill a rabbit." Jonathan was obviously uncomfortable.
"A rabbit?" Nancy questioned.
"Yeah," he said. "I guess he thought it would make me into more of a man or something. I cried for a week."
"And I thought he couldn't get any more psycho," mumbled Cassie.
"Jesus," exclaimed Nancy.
"What? I'm a fan of Thumper," Jonathan joked with Nancy. She chuckled, making Cassie's stomach drop.
"I mean your dad," said Nancy.
"Yeah," sighed Jonathan. "I guess he and my mother loved each other at some point, but," the gun cocked, "I wasn't around for that part." Nancy put her hand out to take the gun. Jonathan gave her the gun tentatively. "Just, uh, point and shoot."
"I don't think my parents ever loved each other," Nancy told them.
"They must've married for some reason," Jonathan said. Nancy raised the gun.
"My mum was young. My dad was older, but he had a cushy job, money, came from a good family. So they bought a nice house at the end of the cul-de-sac and started their nuclear family."
"Screw that," Jonathan told her. Nancy breathed out.
"Yeah," she spoke. "Screw that." She shot, her bullet knocking the middle can over. Nancy and Jonathan looked over at each other and chuckled. Cassie dropped her lacrosse stick and bag behind her, an ugly feeling rising in her stomach.
"Nice shot, Wheeler," Cassie complimented, the two turning to the dark-clothed girl. She put her hand out for the gun.
"You know how to shoot?" Nancy asked her in shock, placing the gun in her hand.
"Please," chuckled Cassie, raising the gun up. "Every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night I wind up in Hopper's office in handcuffs over some dumb harassment charge that doesn't even make sense, but the police department will take it seriously because the call came from some respected family like the Harringtons or the Hagans and I'm Cassie Henderson, Hawkins troublemaker. I know how to shoot." Cassie shot the two remaining cans quickly, watching them clatter to the floor. "Hop thought it'd be good for me to know how to."
She turned to see the pair's faces. They looked at her shocked and in slight pity. Cassie shrugged, looking down at the ground. She looked back up at the two as she picked up her lacrosse stick.
"Let's go get us a monster."
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The trio had been walking in the woods for a while now. Cassie had been leading them, her lacrosse stick fixed on her shoulders as her hands dangled off it, her backpack securely on her back. She had given Jonathan his gun back (which he had given to Nancy in exchange for the bat) before they set off. Cassie stomped on the crunchy leaves, chuckling slightly at how childish it was. But, for someone whose childhood wasn't happy or outside at all, Cassie enjoyed it a lot.
"You never said what I was saying," Nancy spoke up from the back. Cassie rolled her eyes, knowing exactly what conversation she was starting up.
"What?" Jonathan asked, confused.
"Yesterday," Nancy said as if that clarified everything. "You said I was saying something and that's why you took my picture."
"Correction," Cassie butted in. "He was saying that as a general for his photos." The pair ignored her, making her gut churn angrily. The disgusting stomach feeling she had felt yesterday in Jonathan's car rose again. Fucking jealousy.
"Oh, uh..." Jonathan thought for a moment. "I don't know." Cassie smiled at that answer. "My guess..." Cassie's smile dropped, "I saw this girl, you know, trying to be someone else. But for that moment... it was like you were alone, or you thought you were. And, you know, you could just be yourself."
"That is such bullshit," Nancy said. Cassie rolled her eyes.
"Oh for fuck," she mumbled, continuing to walk as the pair were slowing down.
"What?" Jonathan called. Cassie heard their footsteps stop.
"I am not trying to be someone else," Nancy told him. "Just because I'm dating Steve and you don't like him-"
"You know what? Forget it," said Jonathan, his footsteps starting again. "I just thought it was a good picture."
"He's actually a good guy," Nancy called as she began to walk again as well.
"Okay," stammered Jonathan, not caring.
"Yesterday, with the camera... he's not like that at all." Their footsteps stopped again. "He was just being protective."
"Yeah, that's one word for it," sassed Jonathan as he began walking again.
"Oh, and I guess what you did was okay?" Nancy asked, following after him. Cassie began swinging the lacrosse stick as she walked, getting annoyed at the conversation behind her.
"No, I-I never said that," defended Jonathan.
"He had every right to be pissed-"
"Okay, all right," interrupted Jonathan. "Does that mean I have to like him?"
"No," answered Nancy.
"Listen, don't take it so personally, okay?" he told her. "I don't like most people. He's in the vast majority.
"You know, I was actually starting to think that you were okay," Nancy started, making Cassie stop and turn around. She was a good distance away from them now, but that sentence made Cassie's blood boil.
"Yeah?" called Jonathan.
"Yeah," responded Nancy. "Yeah, I was thinking 'Jonathan Byers, maybe he's not the pretentious creep everyone says he is'."
Cassie was ready to take a swing at Nancy right then. If she remembered correctly, it was Nancy that came to find Jonathan for his help finding Barb while he was picking out a casket for his supposedly dead brother all because of some weird distortion in a photo. While that had ultimately helped them, it was still a shitty thing to do.
"Well, I was just starting to think you were okay," responded Jonathan, walking toward her.
"Oh," breathed Nancy sarcastically.
"I was thinking 'Nancy Wheeler, she's not just another suburban girl who thinks she's rebelling by doing exactly what every other suburban girl does until that phase passes and they marry some boring one-time jock who now works in sales, and they live out their perfectly boring little life at the end of a cul-de-sac. Exactly like their parents, who they thought were so depressing, but now, hey, they get it'."
"Hey, dispshits!" yelled Cassie angrily. The two finally seemed to remember that Cassie was there as well. "If you two wanna wrap up your little lovers' quarrel and actually help me fucking look for a fucking monster that might have taken your little brother," she pointed at Jonathan, "and your goddamn best friend," she pointed at Nancy, "who mean the world to you two! And if this happens all night, I swear to whatever fucking God is up there, neither one of you will be helping me with finding it, got it?" The pair nodded. Cassie turned around. "Fuck!"
Nancy and Jonathan didn't talk for the rest of the trip, too scared of pissing off Cassie again. The sun had set, making them all take out their flashlight from their bags. She had once again taken the lead, walking in front and between the pair. Nancy stopped, making Cassie and Jonathan turn to her.
"What, are you tired?" Jonathan asked her sarcastically. Cassie slapped his chest.
"Shut up," Nancy told them.
"What?" Jonathan asked again.
"I heard something," said Nancy.
There was a whimper and the three looked at each other. The trio trudged through the woods, trying to find the source of the continuous whimpering. Cassie tried to make her steps soft so that they wouldn't scare the creature that they were trying to find. Nancy led them to a deer. The animal was on its side, blood pouring out of it.
"Oh, God," breathed Nancy as she kneeled by the deer. Cassie and Jonathan followed her. Nancy reached out to touch it.
"It's been hit by a car," Cassie concluded, familiar with the sight.
"We can't just leave it," Nancy said, her eyes welling up. She looked back at Jonathan. Nancy looked at the gun in her hand.
"I'll do it," Jonathan said, putting his hand out for the gun. The pair could see how much pain Nancy was in.
"I thought you said-"
"I'm not nine anymore," Jonathan said strongly.
Nancy gave him the gun reluctantly as he took it from her hands. The three stood up. Cassie sighed and offered her hand for Nancy to take. Nancy looked over at her tearily. Cassie nodded. The girl took Cassie's right hand tightly. She turned her head away from the deer. Jonathan struggled slightly, Cassie could see the tears forming in his eyes as well.
She couldn't blame the pair for trembling at the thought of killing an animal. Unfortunately for Cassie, dead animals had been her way of life for a period of time. Killing animals for their meat and their warm hides had been pivotal in her survival in these woods years ago.
"Oh, for God's sake, I'll do it," breathed Cassie, snatching the gun from Jonathan's hand. She went to shoot, but the deer was pulled away from them. The trio jumped back in fright and gasped.
"What was that?" asked Jonathan.
The three followed the blood tracks on the leafy floor, trying to track what had taken it. Cassie had given the gun back to Jonathan so that she could raise her lacrosse stick and carry her flashlight.
"Where'd it go?" whispered Nancy. Cassie flashed her light, seeing that the blood tracks stopped.
"I don't know," Jonathan said, the gun raised. "Do you see any more blood?"
"No," responded Nancy.
"It just fucking stops," Cassie exclaimed. "As if it's just been abducted by aliens or something."
The three split up subconsciously, trying to find a trace of blood or the deer. Cassie turned around when she heard Nancy call for Jonathan.
"Wheeler!" called Cassie, following the direction she heard Nancy's voice. "Wheeler! Hey, Wheeler! Nancy! Nancy!"
Cassie stopped when she saw Nancy's backpack and bat on the floor next to a hole in a tree trunk. There was liquid dripping from the top of the hole, making webs. Cassie bobbed down, leaving her lacrosse stick on the floor. She reached out to touch the substance and recoiled when she felt the stickiness.
"Oh, for fuck sake," she breathed. "Fucking Nancy Wheeler had to go in there didn't she." Cassie let out a groan before discarding her jacket and bag off to the side. She got down on her hands and knees before crawling in, hoping Nancy was there as well.
The sticky webs created a tunnel for Cassie to crawl through. She grunted as she crawled. Her broad shoulders didn't exactly appreciate the tight squeeze of the tunnel. When she got to the other side of the tunnel she sighed in relief. Standing up, she regretted that sigh.
On the other end of the tunnel was an exact replica of the woods she was just in. Except, everything was covered with vines, and what looked like dust particles floated down from the sky. The area reeked of death and decay. Her flashlight flickered.
Cassie's breath picked up. Her right hand immediately clutched her left wrist, again trying to cover the already concealed tattoo. She couldn't focus on anything in front of her, her eyes darted everywhere. She couldn't breathe. It was all too much. Too many memories.
"No, no," she mumbled repeatedly, tears welling in her eyes. Her mother's calming voice came to the back of her mind. Slow down, Cassie, slow down.
Cassie closed her eyes, her hand coming up over her heart. She counted to ten, slowing her breathing down. Once she was calm, she opened her eyes and reaffirmed her mission. Find Nancy. It was pretty easy. Nancy hadn't gone far. The girl was walking backward, away from a creature. Cassie looked over at the monster and she began to freak out again. She had seen it before.
Nancy stepped back and a twig snapped. She gasped. The tall, pale white monster turned around, opened its flower-like head to show off its many rows of sharp teeth and roared. Nancy screamed before running off, the creature following her. Cassie ran off after her.
"Jonathan!" screamed Nancy, far in front of Cassie, but getting tired. "Cassie! Jonathan! Cassie!"
Jonathan's indistinct yelling echoed through the empty wood. Cassie forgot that you could hear people from outside of this place.
"Jonathan! I'm right here!" yelled Nancy as she stopped running. Cassie ran toward her, relief washing on the other girl's face. "Cassie!"
Cassie ran into Nancy, the smaller girl practically shaking. She grabbed Cassie's open arms in fear.
"It's okay, Nancy, I'm here now, okay?" Nancy's eyes flicked over Cassie's body.
"Are you real?" she panted in fear.
"Yes, yes, Nancy, I'm real," Cassie reassured as she pushed back some of Nancy's slimy hair. "Now, we've gotta get you out of here, okay?"
Jonathan's voice rang out. "I'm right here." It echoed. "Nancy! Just follow my voice! Cass, where are you!"
"She's here!" Nancy yelled back, making Cassie put her hand over her mouth.
"Are you crazy?" she asked the girl through gritted teeth. "That thing can hear us. No more yelling from now on, okay?" Nancy nodded.
"Cass, Nancy, follow my voice!"
The two girls looked over to see the creature looking directly at them. Cassie grabbed Nancy's hand before running off quickly. Cassie let go of Nancy's hand, whispering, "hide!" to her. The girls hid behind separate tree trunks. The creature moved past them, Nancy whimpering. At the sound of Jonathan's voice, the girl looked over to see the tunnel they came through.
"When I say go, you run, got it?" Cassie whisper-yelled to Nancy. She nodded her head frantically. "Okay." Cassie looked around her trunk checking the coast was clear. "3, 2, 1, GO!"
Nancy and she ran toward the tunnel. With her heartbeat in her ears, Cassie picked up a large stick in case they were attacked while Nancy was climbing through. Nancy crawled through as the creature came toward them. Cassie heard both Nancy and Jonathan scream at her from the other side.
"Go to hell, you son of a bitch!" Cassie yelled, throwing the stick at it.
She quickly dove to climb through the tunnel. Her hand reached out, but the creature grabbed her leg. She screamed out in pain. She felt someone take her hand and pull, but the creature was stronger, pulling her back. Screaming, Cassie kicked the creature with her other foot. It let go, and Cassie was pulled through the tunnel.
Cassie had landed on Jonathan, as he was the one that pulled her through. Her body shook in fear and in pain. Nancy sat beside them, catching her breath. Jonathan wrapped his arms around Cassie tightly as her arms went around his neck. He brought them to sit up as Cassie gasped and panted, clutching Jonathan's jacket firmly in her fists.
"I've got you," he said into her shoulder. "I've got you, Cass, I've got you."
The girl groaned out in pain as pain shot up her leg. She muffled her screams in Jonathan's neck.
"My leg!" she groaned out. "My leg! It hurts so bad! Fuck!" She began to cry hysterically.
"It's okay, Cass, it's going to be okay." Jonathan sat her up against the tree trunk, the hole now closed up.
Nancy sprung into action, kneeling beside Cassie. Cassie grabbed Nancy's outstretched hand and squeezed it tight. Jonathan rolled up her left pant leg, revealing four deep claw wounds that ran down her calf. It bled violently, freaking the other two out.
"My bag," she grunted out between the sharp yells of pain. "Shit! Jay, my bag. Shirt. Spare shirt." She writhed around, squeezing Nancy's hand tightly as her back bent off the trunk, her hand going back.
Jonathan found the spare shirt and wrapped it around Cassie's legs tightly as a replacement bandage.
"Cass, we have to get you home," he said.
"No," she gasped out. "No, no, fuck no, I can't go home like this. My mum," another gasp, "she knows I'm out with you. She'll probably think I'm," another cuss, "staying the night with you again."
"You two can stay at my house," Nancy said softly, making the two look over at her.
"What?" asked Jonathan.
"You can stay at my house," she repeated. "Besides, I don't want to be alone tonight."
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"you're the only one who keeps me sane"
*⁎ wondermusings ⁎* SPEAKS!
cassie henderson is such a jealous bitch and i stan her ALWAYS
PUBLISHED: 23/02/2023